www.millsandboon.co.uk

      This book is dedicated to the folks who live in

      small towns. I’m certain when Dorothy said

      those famous words, “There’s no place like

      home,” she was talking about the small towns

      and the folks who live there. Where life is

      simple and everyone knows everyone

      else and everyone cares.

      Prologue

      The waves crashed ferociously against the rocky shore, sending a salty mist spraying over his bare back. The cool, damp sand beneath his arms felt familiar and comforting. But it was the woman in his arms that filled his heart and soul with longing, and at the same time with torment. Nicholas Sterling III stared into the eyes of the woman he held so tightly.

      The woman with whom he had made slow, passionate love for the last time.

      How could he never hold her this way again? How could he pretend what they shared meant nothing and go on with his life?

      Agony squeezed his heart. Yet he must. He had an obligation. His family had arranged his marriage, his whole life. Starting tomorrow. There was no way to stop the momentum. He was to marry the chosen bride and settle into his arranged future or lose everything. His family…his inheritance. To defy his family’s wishes would be to exile himself from Raven’s Cliff and all that he knew.

      Did he not possess the courage to start over somewhere else on his own? With nothing?

      Nicholas pushed away the thought. Perhaps he was a coward. It was far too late to delve into a self-analysis. Tomorrow he would do as his family demanded.

      But tonight was his. His and Camille’s.

      One last night to hold her. Nicholas dipped his head and tasted her sweet lips once more. Camille whimpered softly. She loved him. He knew she did.

      And he loved her…desperately.

      Unfortunately love was not enough.

      He stilled. The bitterness of regret tainted his soul despite his determination to put all but this moment aside. The truth was, what he was doing now was unfair to Camille. Unfair to the woman he was to marry and to his family.

      Those damned obligations.

      This was a hell of a time for his conscience to decide it worked after all. Not once had he ever let anyone else’s expectations block his path, so why tonight?

      What made this night different from all the others that had come before it?

      Just because in less than twenty-four hours he was scheduled to wed a woman his family had hand-picked for him…just because…

      Doom crashed down around him as if lightning had struck with unerring force. An overwhelming of loss pressed against his chest.

      Tonight…was the night.

      “Dear God…” He’d forgotten to go to the lighthouse.

      “What’s wrong?” Camille wiggled out of his arms and scooted up to a sitting position. “Nicholas?”

      His gaze met hers and in a single instant he saw his true destiny reflected there. Death.

      “I have to go.” Nicholas scrambled to his feet, jerked on his jeans. “I’m sorry. I—”

      “Please tell me what’s wrong.” Draping her abandoned dress over her bare breasts, she stared up at him, her eyes wide with worry and sadness…with her own regret. This was their last time together.

      For a moment he couldn’t move. He wanted so badly to take her into his arms again…to promise her whatever necessary to banish the sadness in those blue eyes.

      How had he allowed his life to come to this place where nothing was as it should be?

      A deafening whoosh blasted the night air, shattering the thick, tense silence. Nicholas lifted his face to the night, scanned the craggy cliff above their secluded, sandy haven.

      Flames danced, illuminating the dark velvet sky.

      “The lighthouse…” Apprehension tightened its noose on his neck.

      He had to hurry. Before it was too late.

      Nicholas ran, skirted the rocky shore his feet knew by heart until he reached the narrow path that ascended the jagged cliff side.

      His grandfather had warned him not to forget.

      But Nicholas had shirked that obligation as he had most put before him.

      Now he was too late.

      Way too late.

      The designated time had come and gone.

      Dread constricted his lungs, making it difficult to breathe.

      What had he done?

      As he reached the summit, found his balance on the ledge that overlooked the restless ocean below, his worst fears were realized.

      The lighthouse was on fire…the upper portion— the watch room where the lantern waited…unlit— glowed with the destructive fingers of fire.

      A new kind of panic seized his heart.

      “Grandfather!”

      Though Nicholas had ignored his duty, his grandfather never would. Nicholas charged toward the lighthouse, flung open the door and mounted the steep, winding stairs two at a time.

      “Grandfather!”

      When he bounded up the final step his heart lurched. The watch room was almost completely